1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having an ink supply device with tubes for supplying ink from ink tanks to a print head.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an inkjet printing apparatus which has its print head on a carriage connected with ink tanks through supply tubes so as to keep the print head supplied with inks from the ink tanks by using a desired type of pump. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-249651 discloses a construction in which an operation of a control unit that controls the ink supply unit and an operation to open a cover of the ink tanks are carried out independently of each other. During a printing operation, the ink tank cover is closed so that the user cannot open the ink tank cover, preventing the ink tanks from being removed or inserted undesirably.
With the apparatus of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-249651, in the event of a failure of the control unit for opening the cover of the ink tanks, the user manually opens the ink tank cover to replace the ink tanks. In that case, if after removing the ink tank the user further takes out the print head, members forming an ink path communicate with open air, giving rise to a possibility that ink may get scattered from the members making up the ink path, which in turn may result in ink adhering to the user or print sheet.